Dilitas Weekly International Security Brief

The threat to the UK from International Terrorism is SEVERE
The threat to Great Britain from Irish Republican Terrorism is MODERATE

SEVERE means that a terrorist attack is highly likely;
SUBSTANTIAL means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility;
MODERATE, means that a terrorist attack is possible, but not likely.

DOMESTIC:

A teenager who was on his way to behead a British soldier with a 12in knife when he was arrested, has been found guilty of preparing a terrorist act. Brusthom Ziamani, 19, was also carrying a hammer and an “Islamic flag” when he was arrested in London in August 2014. The court heard he had been inspired by the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in 2013, researched Army cadet bases and boasted of a plot to “kill soldiers”. Ziamani, of Camberwell, London, will be sentenced on 20 March.

A 16-year-old boy from Greater Manchester has been charged with terror offences after allegedly attempting to acquire a biological weapon. The teenager was arrested 16 February at his home in Mossley, Tameside, following an investigation by the North West counter-terrorism unit. The boy, who cannot be named, has been charged with attempting to acquire a biological toxin or agent contrary to the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.

Three missing east London schoolgirls are feared to be travelling to Syria via Turkey, police say. Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and an unnamed 15-year-old, who are all pupils at Bethnal Green Academy, flew from Gatwick to Istanbul on Tuesday, during their half-term break. Commander Richard Walton said he was concerned about UK girls intent on joining terror group Islamic State. The trio are friends with a fourth girl who travelled in December. David Cameron says the disappearance of three east London girls feared to be heading to Syria to join Islamic State extremists is “deeply concerning”.

RAF jets were scrambled on Wednesday after two Russian military aircraft were seen off the Cornwall coast, the Ministry of Defence has said. The Russian Bear bombers did not enter sovereign airspace, it said. On the same day, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon warned that Russia’s President Putin posed a “real and present danger” to three Baltic states.

The UK and the EU have been accused of a “catastrophic misreading” of the mood in the Kremlin in the run-up to the crisis in Ukraine. The House of Lords EU committee claimed Europe “sleepwalked” into the crisis. The EU had not realised the depth of Russian hostility to its plans for closer relations with Ukraine, it said. It comes as French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about the crisis at a joint news conference in Paris.

Police Scotland has admitted it lost 20,000 stop and search records because “someone pressed the wrong button”. The admission came as senior officers appeared before a Holyrood committee. Among them was Chief Constable Sir Stephen House, who said he had apologised for giving incorrect information to the police watchdog over stop and search statistics.

The man prevented from boarding a Paris Metro train by Chelsea football fans chanting racist slogans has called for them to be punished.

The 33-year-old, named as Souleymane S, told France’s Le Parisien: “These people, these English fans… should be locked up.” A video shows him trying to get on a Metro carriage but being pushed off. A group of people can be heard singing: “We’re racist, we’re racist and that’s the way we like it.” The footage was obtained by the Guardian, which reported that the incident happened at Richelieu-Drouot station in the centre of the French capital on Tuesday ahead of a Champions League match.

NORTHERN IRELAND AND EIRE:

A bomb found during a security alert in Londonderry was “designed to kill”, police have said. Officers began searching the Currynierin estate last Monday, after they received phone calls claiming an explosive device had been left in a laneway.

The man accused of murdering 29 people in the 1998 Omagh bomb will be prosecuted, a court has been told. Seamus Daly, 44, is originally from Culloville, County Monaghan, but now has an address at Kilnasaggart Road in Jonesborough, County Armagh. He appeared at Omagh Magistrates’ Court via video-link. Mr Daly was one of four men ordered to pay more than £1.5m in damages to the families of those killed in the Real IRA attack in August 1998.

The IRA that supported the peace process has “gone away” and is not involved in diesel laundering, cigarette smuggling or petrol stretching, a Sinn Féin justice spokesman has said. Those involved “are not republicans; they are criminal gangs,” he said. The Irish Minister for Justice agreed they were criminal but added “there are links to paramilitary groups”. The two were speaking during Dáil question time when questions were asked about Garda plans and resources to tackle criminal gangs involved in cross-Border crime.

INTERNATIONAL:

ISIS

Islamist militants have released a video in which they appear to call for terrorist attacks on some of the busiest shopping areas in the UK and US. In the footage, fighters from the al Shabaab group specifically mention Oxford Street, and give GPS coordinates for the Westfield shopping centres in Stratford and Shepherd’s Bush. US authorities have said they are taking the threats seriously, while the Metropolitan Police told Sky News its Counter Terrorism Command is aware of the video and is assessing the content.

Jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS) have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, the local police chief says. Exactly who these people were and why they were killed is not clear, but Col Qasim al-Obeidi said he believed some were members of the security forces. IS fighters captured much of the town, near Ain al-Asad air base, two weeks ago.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says its armed forces are preparing for an offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS). Mr Abadi said he hoped Mosul would be liberated in a few months’ time, and with a minimum of casualties.

Egypt bombed Islamic State targets in Libya hours after the group published video showing the apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians, according to reports on state television on 16 February. The dawn strikes targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas – hours after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that Egypt had the “right to respond” against IS.

Islamic State militants are planning a takeover of Libya as a “gateway” to wage war across the whole of southern Europe, letters written by the group’s supporters have revealed. The jihadists hope to flood the north African state with militiamen from Syria and Iraq, who will then sail across the Mediterranean posing as migrants on people trafficking vessels, according to plans seen by Quilliam, the British anti-extremist group. The fighters would then run amok in southern European cities and also try to attack maritime shipping. The document is written by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) propagandist who is believed to be an important online recruiter for the terror in Libya, where security has collapsed in the wake of the revolution that unseated Colonel Gaddafi in 2011. The group has already established Libyan-based cells, who last weekend, released a video showing a mass beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian guest workers.

Turkey and the US have reached a tentative agreement to train and arm moderate Syrian opposition forces taking on Islamic State (IS) militants. The US state department said that a deal had been reached “in principal” and would soon be signed.

Two weeks ago, the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that ISIL is already alleged to have used chlorine gas and is attempting to get access to more. He stated that reports had reached him of Islamic State members trying to get chemical weapons and that attempts by his organisation to destroy chemical weapons facilities in Syria had been hampered by the country’s ongoing civil war. Speaking in Tokyo he stressed the danger that militants could acquire chemical weapons or the means of producing them, and warned that the international community must be alert to such perils.

The Malaysian Home Ministry has warned of the threat kidnapping by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), saying that the radical Islamist group is plotting to kidnap wealthy Malaysians and stage bank robberies in the country, major Chinese dailies reported late last week. Its Minister said in a joint interview that the tactics employed by ISIS is to hold these tycoons for ransom and use the money to funds their terrorist activities, Sin Chew Daily reported last Friday.

The United States has found around 1,200 opposition fighters in Syria that could participate in US military led training programs to fight against ISIS, the Pentagon said last week. The fighters will undergo vetting for the programme, which is expected to begin in March at multiple sites outside of Syria and train more than 5,000 Syrian fighters a year. Some 3,000 could be trained by the end of 2015, a US official said. The program is expected to vet fighters using both US government
databases as well as intelligence from regional partners.

SYRIA

Hundreds of Turkish troops in armoured vehicles have entered northern Syria and evacuated a historic Ottoman tomb and the soldiers guarding it. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah would be moved elsewhere in Syria.

LIBYA

The Italian coastguard has rescued more than 2,000 migrants in a major operation off the Libyan coast, officials say. During the rescue, search teams were threatened by Kalashnikov-wielding men who approached in a speedboat from Libya, Italian officials said. Last week, at least 300 migrants perished in the Mediterranean Sea.

YEMEN

Clashes have erupted in Yemen’s second city of Aden between militiamen loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and forces allied to Houthi rebels. At least three people were killed after members of the Popular Resistance Committees attacked pro-rebel police guarding several government buildings. The PRC now control an intelligence headquarters and television building.

Yemen’s former president Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi has fled the capital, Sanaa, weeks after he was put under house arrest by Houthi rebels who forced him to resign.

EGYPT

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has called for a United Nations resolution allowing international forces to intervene in Libya. There was no other choice, he told French radio. “We will not allow them to cut off the heads of our children.” Egyptian jets bombed IS targets last Monday in response to a militant video of the apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians.

Egyptian court jails prominent anti-Mubarak activist Alaa Abdel Fattah for five years for breaking protest law

QATAR

Qatar has recalled its ambassador from Egypt following a row about air strikes on Islamic State targets in Libya. Foreign ministry officials said it was prompted by comments made by Egypt’s delegate to the Arab League, who accused Qatar of supporting terrorism. Qatar had expressed reservations over Egypt’s unilateral military action in another Arab League member state and the risk of civilian casualties.

AFRICA

A group of 158 women and children abducted by Boko Haram militants in north- eastern Nigeria in December have been reunited with their families. They were kidnapped during a raid on Katarko village in Yobe state and spent about a month in captivity. In April last year, the Islamist insurgents caused worldwide outrage when they kidnapped more than 200 girls from a boarding school in Chibok in Borno state, which borders Yobe. The schoolgirls have yet to be released despite military assistance from countries such as China, France, the UK and the US.

Some 20 people, including senior officials, have been killed in an attack on a hotel in the Somali capital, witnesses have said. The Central Hotel, often frequented by politicians, was hit by a car bomb and a suicide attack. Gunmen then stormed the hotel mosque and opened fire during Friday prayers.

Dozens of people have been killed in suicide attacks in Nigeria. Twenty people died following explosions at a military checkpoint outside the north-eastern town of Biu. Troops present at the checkpoint fired back, killing 17 of the insurgents. It is believed they were from Boko Haram. On Tuesday the group released a video in which Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau vowed to disrupt Nigeria’s elections at any cost. The 15-minute film was released via the group’s newly created Twitter account, prompting some analysts to question whether they had been influenced by Islamic State.

Nigerian troops, backed by air strikes, have reclaimed the towns of Monguno and Marte from Boko Haram, according to a military statement. Meanwhile, Cameroon says its army has killed more than 80 Boko Haram soldiers and arrested 1,000 of their supporters. Niger also claimed on Monday to have arrested 160 people with links to Boko Haram since 6 February.

A female suicide bomber has killed at least seven people at a crowded bus station in north-eastern Nigeria. Police say more than 30 others were wounded in the city of Damaturu, capital of Yobe State. No group has said it carried out the bombing but the jihadist group Boko Haram has previously launched attacks in the city. A week last Saturday, Boko Haram fighters tried to take over the regional capital of neighbouring Gombe state.

Reported 17th February 2015 – Thousands of people have marched in Niger’s capital to protest against Boko Haram, which has launched deadly raids into the country from Nigeria. The demonstrators were led by Niger’s Prime Minister Brigi Rafini and protected by a heavy police presence.

An albino toddler has been kidnapped in northern Tanzania, raising fears that he may be killed by witchdoctors. Police say one-year-old Yohana Bahati was taken by attackers who broke in to his mother’s house, striking her with a machete. The body parts of albino people, who lack pigment in their skin, are sought after by witchdoctors in Tanzania. The country banned witchcraft in December in an attempt to prevent attacks and kidnappings.
RUSSIA

The US has accused Russia of violating the Minsk agreement on Ukraine, as the UN Security Council voted unanimously to approve the ceasefire deal. Vice-President Joe Biden said “the costs to Russia will rise” if it continued to violate the accord. Fighting is continuing around the strategic town of Debaltseve, with pro-Russian rebels saying they now control most areas.

UKRAINE

Shelling is reported from several places in eastern Ukraine despite the official ceasefire between government forces and pro-Russia rebels. Artillery fire could be heard in the region’s biggest city, Donetsk, where the truce had been observed so far. Ukrainian military sources also accused rebels of shelling positions near the port city of Mariupol. The fighting comes as Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany held further talks over the phone.

The government and rebels in eastern Ukraine have agreed to start pulling back heavy weapons from the frontline. A Russian general involved in the process said work would start yesterday, Sunday 22nd February 2015, but actual withdrawal is not expected to get under way until Tuesday.

The Ukrainian military has said it cannot start withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in the east until the rebels stop shelling its positions. Military spokesman Anatoliy Stelmakh told reporters the rebels had not stopped firing.

FRANCE

France is tracking hundreds of people believed to belong to possible sleeper cells for terror organisations like al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, the country’s top security official said. In an interview with The Associated Press, the French Interior Minister laid out what has become an increasingly urgent question for European intelligence services: How to trace the moment when someone transforms from a disgruntled criminal or a disaffected citizen into a terrorist, and how to block those first steps toward radicalisation. He said, “Four hundred targets have been identified by our intelligence services that are more or less sleeper cells, affiliated or in relation with al-Qaeda-type organisations …”

DENMARK

Denmark’s domestic intelligence agency (PET) says it was warned by prison officials about the man who killed two people in a shootout in Copenhagen. It says it received a report in September saying that the man now confirmed by police as Omar El-Hussein, 22, was at risk of being radicalised while serving time for a stabbing. However, PET said there had been no indication he was planning an attack. The gunman was shot dead by police after two attacks in the capital.

ITALY

Italian security chiefs have approved a plan to put 4,800 soldiers on the streets throughout the country to help guard against potential terrorist attacks. A statement by the interior ministry after a meeting on 17 February of military and security officials said they would guard sensitive sites and targets until at least June. Italian media said about 500 would be deployed in Rome, where army troops already help guard diplomatic missions and residences, the capital’s synagogue and Jewish schools. The troops are expected to be deployed at tourist venues including archaeological sites and monuments.

CHINA

A Chinese man rammed a car into a barrier in front of the US Consulate in Shanghai and injured an armed police officer, officials said late last week. Shanghai police said the 35-year-old man was placed in custody and told officials that he felt he was being chased by assassins and wanted to get some attention. The man was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident and the case was still under investigation, police said on their official microblog site.

JAPAN

On 17 February, Japan announced $15.5 million to fight “terrorism” in the Middle East and Africa, as Tokyo tries to demonstrate its resolve despite the murder of two of its citizens by Islamist extremists, Agence France Presse reported. Japan’s Foreign Minister said in a statement that the aid was part of Japan’s effort to support “counter-terrorism capacity building assistance in the Middle East/Africa,” including border control, investigation and development of legal systems.

AUSTRALIA

The Australian authorities are examining an Islamic State video that appears to show Sydney terrorist Mohamed Elomar watching the brutal beheading of a “spy” in Syria. The Islamic State propaganda film shows a man – who bears a resemblance to Khaled Sharrouf – delivering a short speech in poorly spoken Arabic. The executioner, believed to be a foreign fighter, carries a knife in his right hand and is flanked by IS fighters near the group’s stronghold of Raqqa.

MALDIVES

Police in the Maldives have arrested opposition leader and former President Mohamed Nasheed. He was detained on terror charges over a 2012 order he issued when he was president to arrest a senior judge, AP news agency reports. Mr Nasheed became the country’s first democratically elected leader in 2008.

COLOMBIA

Three Colombian soldiers were killed by an attack on their armoured vehicle with an explosive device in Norte de Santander province. The army said the device was planted by Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). The ELN announced last year that it was willing to enter into peace talks with the Colombian government, but formal talks have not yet begun.

CANADA

With less than a week until Canada Day, John Nuttall and his wife Amanda Korody, were in a motel room near Vancouver, Canada, watching television and discussing their alleged plan to bomb the British Columbia legislature on the national holiday. They had spent the afternoon of June 26, 2013, shopping for bomb-making materials such as pressure cookers, their terrorism trial has heard, and they planned to build the devices the following day. The prosecution has said the couple planned the attack to avenge what they saw as the mistreatment of Muslims abroad, and the videos have featured numerous instances in which Nuttall complains about Canadian military involvement in Arab countries.

USA

The US has accused Israel of selectively leaking information from the Iran nuclear talks to misrepresent its position in the negotiations. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that Israel was “cherry-picking” information and using it out of context. Six world powers want Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions. Negotiations with Iran are due to begin again on Friday.

Reported Saturday 21st February 2015 – New US Defence Secretary Ash Carter has arrived in Afghanistan days after taking up the post, saying he wants “lasting success” for the country. Mr Carter will meet US commanders and Afghan heads on the unannounced visit.

More than 4,000 US soldiers are heading to Kuwait, opening up the possibility of an intervention in Iraq after President Obama asked Congress to authorize military action against terrorists in the Middle East. The Commander-in-chief has ruled out large-scale US ground combat operations similar to those in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he asked for the option to use military force against Islamic State fighters for three years. The fight could be extended to any ‘closely related successor entity’ to the Islamic State organization that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, imposed an
extreme form of Sharia law and killed several hostages it has taken.

A Michigan woman was trying to adjust her bra holster when she shot herself in the face, authorities said. Christina Bond, 55, was repositioning the handgun inside her brassiere when she looked down and fired a round into her eye, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported last week. “She was having trouble adjusting her bra holster, couldn’t get it to fit the way she wanted it to,” said St Joseph Public Safety Director Mark Clapp. “She was looking down at it and accidentally discharged the weapon,” he said. The New Year’s Day shooting occurred at the woman’s Lake Michigan home. She was taken to a local hospital, then airlifted to Bronson Methodist Hospital, where she died a day later, the paper reported. A full autopsy report has not yet been received, Clapp said. The woman had served in the Navy and had been recently elected as a Republican precinct delegate. Source The incident precipitated some to again urge for greater gun control in the US.

CYBER ISSUES:

US and British intelligence agencies hacked into a major manufacturer of Sim cards in order to steal codes that facilitate eavesdropping on mobiles, a US news website says. The Intercept says the revelations came from US intelligence contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden. The Dutch company allegedly targeted – Gemalto – says it is taking the allegations “very seriously”. It operates in 85 countries and has more than 40 manufacturing facilities.

More than 25 billion cyber-attacks on the Japanese government and other bodies were logged in 2014, an agency said 17 February with 40 per cent of them traced to China. The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), which has a network of a quarter of a million sensors, said there were 25.66 billion attempts to compromise systems, according to a report by Kyodo News. The figure includes attacks aimed at testing the vulnerability of software used in servers. The survey was first carried out in 2005, when it recorded just 310 million attempts to breach security. NICT said an increasing number of the attacks it was seeing involve attempts to take over routers, security cameras and other systems connected to the Internet. Of the cyber-attacks the agency was able to trace, 40 per cent originated in China, while South Korea, Russia and the United States also figured prominently.

1 March 2003 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged architect of the ‘9/11’ attacks is arrested in Pakistan
1 March 2015 St David’s Day
2 March 2002 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda.
4 March 2001 The Real IRA mounts a car bomb attack on the BBC offices in Wood Lane, London W12. The device was contained in rear of black taxi left abandoned outside building – 2001
8 March 1995 Two American diplomats are shot dead by gunmen in Karachi, Pakistan.
8 March 1973 Two car bombs explode in London (Old Bailey and Whitehall). Two other VBIEDs were made safe. These attacks marked the start date of the Provisional IRA’s mainland offensive that continued (more or less) until the 1997 ceasefire.
9 March 1994 Provisional IRA launched improvised mortars at Heathrow Airport with further attacks taking place on 11 and 13 March.
9 March 2015 Commonwealth Day
11 March 2004 Ten bombs explode on morning rush hour trains in Madrid killing 200
15 March 2015 Mothering Sunday – UK only
16 March 1988 Murder of Kurdish villagers at Halabja by Iraqi troops using chemical weapons
16 March 1984 William Buckley, a U.S. national, kidnapped and killed by Hezbollah
17 March 1992 Car bomb at Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires kills 28, injures 220
17 March 1968 Grosvenor Square massed riots directed against the U.S. Embassy during an anti-Vietnam war rally
17 March 1968 Grosvenor Square massed riots directed against the U.S. Embassy during an anti-Vietnam war rally.
17 March 2015 St Patrick’s Day
19 March 2007 Suicide bomber attacks U.S. convoy in Afghanistan killing 2 officials. Taliban claimed responsibility.
19 March 1982 Argentinean actions result in the start of the Falklands War – 1982
20 March 2003 Invasion of Iraq by US/British troops to remove Saddam Hussein
20 March 1995 Sarin Nerve gas attack on Tokyo subway kills 12 and sickens 5,000.
21 March 2015 Nowruz – Afghanistan/Iran New Year
21 March 1985 Founding day of E.R.N.K. (political wing of the Kurdish PKK)
24 March 1986 U.S. retaliation against Libyan aggression during naval exercise in Gulf of Sirte
27 March 2001 Abdelmajid Dahoumane arrested for role in plot to attack Los Angeles International Airport on 31 December 1999
29 March 2010 Some 40 killed and 60 wounded as two female [Chechen] suicide bombers attack two Metro stations in Moscow.
29 March 2015 British Summer Time begins – clock in the UK go forward 1 hour
29 Marh 2015 Christian festival – Palm Sunday
30 March 1979 British MP, Airey Neave, killed by under vehicle bomb as he drove out of the Palace of Westminster. Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility.

1 April 2015 All Fools Day (UK and US)
2 April 1998 In the Irish Republic, a 990lb VBIED is discovered at Dublin ferry port bound for England. The device was made safe. Real IRA blamed.
2 April 1986 Attempted sabotage of TWA flight 840. Four people killed, nine injured.
2 April, 1982 Argentina invades the Falkland Islands, precipitating war with Britain
April campaign across the USA
3 April 2015 Christian festival – Good Friday
4 April 1986: La Belle discothèque bombed in Germany killing three. Libya implicated in the attack.
April 4 1979 Execution by hanging of former Pakistan President Bhutto
4 April 2015 Pesach (Passover)
5 April 2015 Christian festival – Easter Day
April 5, 1988 Hezbollah hijack a Kuwaiti B747 aircraft, an incident that lasted 16 days.
April 6, 2001 Algerian Ahmed Ressam is convicted of the New Years Day plot to bomb Los Angeles airport.
April 6, 1994 Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi killed when their aircraft was believed shot down by a missile. Start of Rwanda civil war.
April 7, 1998 Rocket attack on the Athens branch of the U.S. Citibank
April 10, 1998 Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement signed
April 10, 1992 Massive Provisional IRA truck bomb functions outside the City of London’s Baltic Exchange killing 3 people and causing immense damage.
April 11, 1968 Founding day of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command
April 12, 1997 Police in Sarajevo thwart an attempt to kill the Pope.
April 12, 2000 HM Queen presents the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) with the George Cross, the highest civilian award for bravery.
April 14, 2005 In the UK, Kamel Bourgass is jailed for 17 years for plotting to spread Ricin. He was already serving life for the murder of a police officer during a police raid on his Manchester apartment in 2003.
April 15, 2013 Three killed, 264 wounded when bombs explode at Boston Marathon; Djokhar Tsarnaev arrested, Tamerian Tsarnaev killed in manhunt
April 15, 1986 U.S. fighter planes from USAF Lakenheath attack targets in Libyan cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. Libya threats to retaliate against US and UK.
April 16, 1988 Assassination in Tunis of PLO Leader Abu Jihad by Israeli Agents
April 17, 1984 Murder of woman police officer, Yvonne Fletcher, outside Libyan Peoples Bureau in St. James Square, London.
April 17, 1961 An invasion force of Cuban exiles lands at Cuba’s Bay of Pigs to try to overthrow Fidel Castro.
April 18, 1983 Hezbollah mounts a massive VBIED attack on the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon killing 63 people and wounding more than 100.
April 18, 2010 Abu Ayyub al-Masri and ‘Umar al-Baghdadi, the leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq, are killed in Coalition raid in Baghdad
April 19, 1993 End of the siege at the Branch Davidian Cult in Waco, Texas.
April 19, 1995 Massive VBIED attack on the Federal building in Oklahoma kills 167 people. McVeigh later executed for this crime June 2001.
April 20, 2014 Easter Day – Christian
April 20, 1870 Birth Date of Hitler (occasional rallies by extreme Right Wing groups)
April 20, 1998 Germany’s Red Army Faction announces its disbandment
April 21, 1926 Birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth ll. Gun salutes in Hyde Park
April 21, 1997 End of 126-day siege at Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Peru.
April 22, 2002 Al-Qaeda attack on a Tunisia synagogue in Djerba kills 19 people
April 24, 1915 Anniversary of Armenian genocide in Turkey.
April 24, 1916 Start of the Easter Rising in Dublin.
April 24, 1968 Founding of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.
April 24, 1993 A massive Provisional IRA truck bomb at Bishopsgate, City of London, kills one person and injures 35 others.
April 24, 1996: Large Provisional IRA Semtex bomb under Hammersmith Bridge fails to function properly.
April 25, 2011 Easter Monday
April 25, 1997: To date, the last Provisional IRA attack on mainland UK prior to their current ceasefire. A bomb attack on an electricity pylon next to M6 in Walsall.
April 25, 1980 Failed U.S. military hostage rescue mission to free 53 U.S. hostages held in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
April 26, 1986 Chernobyl Disaster
April 27, 1984 End of Libyan Embassy siege in London
April 28, 2011 Bomb kills 15 in Marrakech cafe frequented by Westerners in first major attack in country since May 2003; government blames AQIM but group denies responsibility
April 29, 1992 Rioting in Los Angeles following verdict in Rodney King case
April 30, 1975 The war in Vietnam ends as Saigon surrenders to the Vietcong.
April 30, 1973 President Nixon takes responsibility for the Watergate scandal but denies any personal involvement
April 30, 1980 Iranian Embassy siege in London – ended on May 5th in a resolution by 22 Special Air Service Regiment.